The effects of in ovo injection of lysine and methionine to fertile broiler eggs on hatchability, growth performance, gastro intestinal tract development, gut microbiota and ileal histomorphology

The effects of in ovo injection of lysine and methionine to fertile broiler eggs on hatchability, growth performance, gastro intestinal tract development, gut microbiota and ileal histomorphology The effect of in ovo injection of lysine, methionine or mixture to fertile broiler eggs on hatchability, chick weight, growth performance, digestive tract development, caecal Total Aerobic Bacteria, E.coli, Coliforms, Enterobactericaea and ileal histomorphology of broilers were investigated. 300 fertile eggs obtained from 60 week old ROSS 308 broiler breeders were used. Before this study, tree different preliminary studies were conducted to determine the optimal amino acid (aa) dose. Optimum aa dose was determined as 2 mg/0.2 ml. Before the hatch, 300 eggs were weighed individually and numbered. On day 16 of incubation these eggs were allocated to treatment groups. NC= negative control (no injection), PC= positive control (distile water injection 0.2 ml), L= lysine (2 mg/0.2 ml), M= methionine (2 mg/0.2 ml) and LM= lysin + methionine (1+1 mg/0.2 ml). Hatching window lasted 32 hours. During the hatching, the first and the last 6 hour hatched chicks were discarded from study to ensure equal hatching time. After hatching, 120 day old healthy chicks were housed in tree replicate and 5 treatment groups according to belonging treatment groups for 21 days. These chick were fed on starter diet (3080 Kcal ME and 22% HP) during the trial. The results showed that in ovo injection of L, M and LM did not affect relative chick weight, livability, growth performance, gut microbiota and ileal villi length and thickness. In ovo injection of L increased hatchability compared to NC group and digestive tract length compared to C group. To conclude, in ovo 2 mg/0.2 ml lysine injection had a positive impact on hatchability of fertile eggs. Key words: In ovo feeding, amino acid, broiler, performance.